


Spoken in Whispers

by lacqueluster (GG_and_MM)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blood and Violence, F/M, Kidnapped Reader, Loki - Freeform, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-05 07:42:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12789933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GG_and_MM/pseuds/lacqueluster
Summary: When you're taken captive Gabriel calls on an old friend for help.





	Spoken in Whispers

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the November Gabriel Monthly Challenge prompt:  
> 

Gabriel stares at the abandoned building, taking a moment to evaluate the situation. The place is an eyesore. It looks grimy and unsavory. Once it must have been a factory of some sort, workers probably hustled in wearing hard hats and safety glasses. That was a long time ago though. This place hasn’t seen any activity in ages. Nothing outside of supernatural activity anyway.

Why do monsters always choose such scummy hideouts? He knows the answer to that. Because people want to ignore what’s not beautiful. They pass places like this without a second look, or more likely, with an intentional look the other way. They don’t want to see it because it’s not convenient for them, but it makes it convenient for monsters to hide in plain sight.

Thunder rolls over his head. Drops of rain splatter on his shoulders. Figures. It’s like a scene from a bad movie. It’s always raining when the hero goes to confront the enemy. Not that he’d consider himself any kind of a hero.

He knows the Djinn is inside, he can feel it. Or rather, the bastard version of a Djinn is in there. There are no true Djinn left, all of them having been killed by their offspring. He remembers the originals, a supernatural race unto themselves. They rivaled angels and demons in their power, although they were benevolent, something angels and demons could never manage to be. That benevolence led to their demise eventually, though. For some reason they became infatuated with humans and started having offspring with them. Eventually their half breed children eradicated them to assume their power, and now all that’s left are children of children of children. They’re still powerful, but no match for an angel.

Rain lets loose from over his head. Sometimes he wonders if Dad is watching. It would be just like him to write this dramatic scene. The rain, thunder, flickering light from inside the busted glass of the factory windows.

“Heya, Chuck,” he says, just in case Dad’s got his ears on. A lot of angels would find him calling God by the name Chuck blasphemous. Dad’s not a normal Dad though, and Gabriel knows that more than most angels. “She better be okay.” He’s not sure if that’s a warning to his Dad or if he’s trying to convince himself that you’re fine.

He knows you’re inside that building too. He can feel you. He knows the Djinn took you to draw him here. It’s bit off more than it can chew, this stupid one. It has no idea what’s coming for it.

The building is warded, he feels it as he moves closer, but the work is sloppy. He undoes the pathetic magic with a few motions of his hand. He’s soaked by the time he pushes the door open and steps inside. He could snap himself in, but he imagines the Djinn is expecting that. He hopes that taking his time entering the building will make it impatient, throw it off it’s game. 

If he thought the outside was grimy it doesn’t hold a candle to the inside. The floor is black, caked in dirt and who knows what. Rain falls through the roof in spots, making tracks run in the filth on the floor. There are tables and broken, wooden chairs strewn around. Plastic hangs in sheets from the ceiling here and there. There’s no rhyme or reason to anything.

In the far back, tucked away in a corner, he can make out your figure. Your arms are tied over your head, and for a brief second he panics as he fears you’re dead. Your head lolls to one side though, and he hears a moan. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.

He moves slowly, knowing this is a trap. A few steps toward you and he feels power building. It vibrates up from the floor, through the soles of his shoes. He bristles, wings flaring on another plane. This warding is stronger, better. He’ll undo it, but it’ll take longer.

He looks down. There’s no visible markings for a ward. He takes one step to the right and the vibration stops. One step back to the left and it starts again. This will be tricky to navigate.

His concentration is broken when the Djinn finally steps around one of the pieces of black hanging plastic.

“Hello,” it says, “I’ve been waiting on you.”

Gabriel isn’t in the mood for this. Not today. Not when you’re hanging on the wall over there. But he knows he needs to play along, if for nothing else than to buy himself time. 

“Funny,” he says, fingers working by his leg, trying to break a line of the ward. “Can’t say I ever gave a thought to you.” He feels the line stretch, then snap. It doesn’t seem to matter though, there’s another line where that came from. 

“You’re thinking about me now, though. Aren’t you?” The Djinn looks at him with glassy blue eyes, the trademark faint tattoos of the species showing on his neck. He’s standing with his hands behind his back, much like a professor would lecture to a class. Proud. Egotistical. 

“You’ve got my attention,” Gabriel admits. “What do I call you?” 

“You can call me Eket.” 

“I’d like to say it’s a pleasure, Eket,” Gabriel flicks his fingers over another line, trying to be inconspicuous, “but I gotta admit, I’ve got better places to be.” 

Eket raises an eyebrow. “By all means, feel free to leave.” 

Gabriel cocks his head. “Not without her.” 

Eket looks over his shoulder, where you’re hanging on the wall behind him. “Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.” 

Another line breaks. It doesn’t seem to make any difference. He’s not able to move closer to you yet. 

“I think she’d rather be in my hands.” 

Eket nods. “You’re right,” he holds his hands up, blue symbols creeping over his palms like living tattoos, “but I assure you, my hands are skilled. Tell me, is she really so important to you to go to all this trouble?”

“You know the answer to that.” No matter how many lines he breaks in the ward it doesn’t seem to matter. “That’s why you took her.”

“I must admit, when I noticed you two together I was intrigued. What makes her so special? Why would you lower yourself to her?”

Anger flares through Gabriel. He has to check himself to control it. “I don’t lower myself to anyone. If anything she’s too good for me.” 

The Djinn shakes his head. “You sound like the ancestors. They believed humans were better than them. Can you believe that? A human, better than a God?”

“Your ancestors were not Gods.” Gabriel corrects. 

Eket rocks on his heels. “Let’s not argue semantics. They were mighty, powerful. I plan to get that power back.” 

“Mighty, that’s a good word for it. Brings to mind that old adage, oh how the mighty have fallen. Your ancestors had power you can’t even imagine. They granted wishes. They made dreams come true.”

“And I don’t?” Blue tattoos pulse under skin, crawling down his forearms with each heartbeat. “I make dreams come true.” He turns and looks at you, then turns back to Gabriel with a smile. “Right now she’s marrying you. You don’t think that’s a dream come true?”

Gabriel feels those words, they cause an aching pain in his chest. You’re dreaming of marrying him. He doesn’t let the pain show, instead he sneers. “You’re not making a dream come true, you’re sucking her life away. It’s all a fantasy.”

“Does it really matter? All that matters to her right now is you, standing in a tux at the end of an aisle.”

Gabriel’s gut twists. He won’t let this thing get to him. He can’t. He has to keep his head straight so he can get out of here. So he can get _you_ out of here.

“Are you really any different, Trickster? Or should I call you Loki? Master of illusions?”

There’s a sharpness in the s’s on his words, making ‘illusions’ sound like a cartoon snake is saying it. _Illussionssss_. It makes Gabriel’s skin crawl. Some of the first generations of Djinn children could shape shift, most commonly into snakes or black dogs. This one must have gotten some of the snake DNA, even though the ability to shift was lost long before he was born.

“You’re right,” Gabriel says, strolling leisurely to his right, testing the warding. “You could call me those things. I’ve been a lot of things in my day, mostly because I’ve had so many days. I’m old. In fact, I knew a few of your ancestors, the original Djinn.”

Light glows in his eyes, like moonlight through a crystal. Eket’s interest is piqued. He won’t ask whatever questions are rattling around in his mind. He’s too proud to do that, trying to keep up the illusion that he knows it all. 

Gabriel goes on. “Most of them were neutral. They didn’t deal with us, and we ignored them. But there were a few back then, they had a…” Gabriel rubs his fingers together, thinking. “Well, let’s call it a mischievous streak. They liked to play, especially with humans. Those were the Djinn I knew. They were Tricksters, just like me, and we created havoc.”

He doesn’t seem to like Gabriel’s words. It’s like he doesn’t even know his own ancestry.

“They made dreams come true, only to twist them into nightmares for fun. They were power on a level you can’t fathom. And now? Look at you. Look what their children have become. You’re a parasite. You feed off of humans to stay alive. You’re no better than a mosquito. You’re a nuisance, and I plan to swat you like the bug you are.”

“You’re right,” Eket says, playing like he knew everything Gabriel said all along. There’s something about his voice, something almost reptilian to it, although Gabriel can’t put a finger on it. “But you won’t swat me, angel. I’m going to change the game.”

“And how do you propose to do that? By hiding out in abandoned buildings?” Gabriel looks at the broken skylights above him, rain falling in over their heads. He motions to you, tied to the wall. “By stealing people and making a meal off of them? Yeah, I can see it. You’ve got vision, kid.” He mocks.

The smile that slides over Eket’s face isn’t something human at all. It’s disturbing. Like something evil is shifting under the skin, making a mockery of a smile. “You think I care about her at all?” He turns, looking at you. “Her and her dreams of a home with you. A family, a puppy. She’s delusional, angel. I don’t care about her. No, I wanted you. You know that. You just don’t know why.”

Gabriel can’t focus on what Eket is saying about your dreams. Who knows if it’s even true. But he makes a mental note that you want a family, a puppy, and a home. You want all of that with him. 

He files that away and shakes it off. “Enlighten me,” Gabriel spreads his hands in an invitation. “Let’s get this show on the road.” 

“You know I’m different,” the Djinn reaches a hand over his own shoulder, pulling the tattered t-shirt he’s wearing off over his head in one motion. He tosses it aside and raises his head, meeting Gabriel’s eyes. He spreads his arms wide, showing off his body. 

The living tattoos on his torso and arms slide and slither. Symbols and long forgotten scripts shifting as light from within illuminates them. 

As Gabriel watches he notices a change. Some of the symbols seem to pulse with different color, as if they’re darkening before his eyes. Some gradually change to purple, darker and darker, and he’s fascinated. 

“Tell me what’s different about me, old one,” Eket prompts. 

Gabriel blinks, breaking the spell of whatever magic is happening under the skin of the Djinn. His head tilts down, eyes meeting the creatures in a menacing stare. “Changing colors? Please, parlor tricks, nothing more. A chameleon that changes from blue to purple is still a chameleon underneath.” 

Eket gives a haughty snort. “I heard you were smarter than the average angel, you’re not living up to your reputation.”

Gabriel ignores the jab, instead focusing on the colors again. 

“No, this is not a parlor trick. This isn’t a chameleon changing colors. Look closer. What being gets its power from darkness?” 

As Gabriel watches the symbols darken to black. His mind flips through lists of dark magic. Some witches, although they’re rare. Basilisk, which would also explain the reptilian, snake like voice. There are dark fairies, but he hasn’t seen one on earth in centuries. And then there’s demons--

“No,” he breathes out, disbelieving. What creature would be so stupid as to absorb the power of demons. 

That unsettling smile curls Ekets lips back into a grimace again. He nods, “Now you’re catching on.” 

“Why?” Gabriel knows why. Deep down he knows. But his brain isn’t catching up quick enough. 

“Why do you think?” Eket turns. The symbols on his back throbbing in black. He looks back at Gabriel over his shoulder. “Power.” 

Gabriel has to look away in disgust. “You’re giving new meaning to the saying power corrupts.” 

Eket walks toward you against the wall and Gabriel freezes. He’s spent too long talking. He needs to focus on this warding again. He needs to get to you and get the hell out of here. 

Your face in Eket’s hand makes Gabriel rage. You look sick, a sheen of sweat shining on your skin. The Djinn leans closer, eyes shifting to hold Gabriel’s as he leans in, licking your cheek. 

You moan softly, a pained, exhausted sound. 

“Mmm,” he runs his tongue over his lips, savoring the taste of you, “I see why you like this one. She tastes so _pure_.” 

Power flares from Gabriel before he can tamp it down. The warding flames with the surge, lighting like a spider web on the floor. It doesn’t waver though, doesn’t weaken at all. If anything it seems stronger, like the angel’s power feeds it. 

“Get away from her,” Gabriel orders. 

“Tsk, tsk,” Eket chastises, dropping your face, “stay calm, friend. Don’t want to set off anymore warding.” 

Gabriel takes a breath. “You fool,” he says with disdain. “You’re an absolute fool. Demons? Really?” 

Eket blinks and his light blue eyes are covered in black. “I’m no fool. I could survive on humans, but who wants to just survive? I want to thrive, grow, _live_.”

“You’re not living,” Gabriel starts to say, but a scream from the Djinn cuts him off. 

“Shut up, SHUT UP! Don’t you ever shut up? Let me talk!” 

Both hands at Gabriel’s sides now, he sets to work on the warding while the Djinn takes the stage. 

Eket seems to visibly calm himself, his shoulders actually shrugging before he starts talking again. “The first time I trapped a human with a demon inside I let it go, thinking it wasn’t possible to consume them. But then I started thinking. Why couldn’t I try? What’s the worst that happens? The demon smokes out? It still leaves me a human. And what if I could force the demon to stay, would it even be possible for me to take them in? And if I did, what would happen?” 

Eket pauses, seeming to wait for Gabriel to speak. He doesn’t. 

“So I thought about it. And thought about it some more. Then I researched it. How do you keep a demon in a body? Could a demon jump to me? How could I prevent that while still absorbing one? It took me years. _Years._ And I finally decided I had to at least try. I had to know once and for all what would happen.”

Eket starts wandering as he speaks, and Gabriel’s hands work faster, more openly as he’s not the focus of attention anymore. Warding is breaking slowly, but it’s almost sticky. The more he breaks the more he feels it’s almost sticking to him. 

“The first demon, that was scary, I’ll admit it. But once I knew it would work, once I pushed through the pain, well…” Eket shakes his head. “I’ll save you the gory details. Suffice it to say, the minute I felt that power I was hooked. And that’s when I knew. I knew I could return to what my kind used to be.”

Gabriel can’t help but comment on those words. “Your kind was never corrupt.” 

Eket pauses mid step, but he doesn’t look at Gabriel. His irritation at the interruption shows in the tenseness of his shoulders, but he goes on. 

“So I got another, and another, on and on. And then I started to wonder about other beings, could I absorb their power too? So I tried werewolves, vampires, sirens, you get the drift. But nothing compared to a demon. Not even close. This got me thinking. _What’s more powerful than a demon?_ ”

It finally sinks in, the full reason that Gabriel is here. This Djinn, this monstrosity of a creature, wants to eat him. It thinks it can absorb the power of an archangel and survive. He almost laughs. Almost. 

“That’s when it came to me,” Eket looks at Gabriel again, his eyes back to the white blue they originally were. “An angel. I need an angel. But how do I get one? So I start looking. Where do I look first? The Winchesters of course. Everyone knows they’ve got that winged trench coat following them everywhere.” 

Gabriel bristles at the description of his brother, but he doesn’t voice it. Eket likes the sound of his own voice, and the more Gabriel lets him talk the more he can work on the warding. He feels like he’s sinking into it now, like it’s sucking him down like quicksand. He’s finally making progress though, moving halfway across the room toward you. 

“He’s not at full power though. He hasn’t been in ages. His wings are beaten and scarred. No, I need a strong angel. I need one of the most powerful angels known to man.” 

A particularly thick line of warding breaks, pulling Gabriel down on one knee. Eket doesn’t seem to notice as Gabriel struggles back to two feet. 

“That’s when I saw you. You and her were with the Winchesters, sitting in some no name diner in the middle of nowhere. You radiated power, although no one around you seem to notice it. And I watched you with her. The glint in her eyes when she smiled at you. The way you moved with her, always near her, like you were her very own guardian angel. I knew then. To get you, all I had to do was get her.” 

Weight seems to be pulling around Gabriel’s waist. The tips of his wings even feel heavy, like the feathers have been dipped in lead. He doesn’t know what’s happening. He can barely move his feet. 

He’s on both knees now, feeling like the weight of the world is pushing him down, down. He uses his grace, tries to flare his wings and stand, but only manages to be pushed down on all fours. 

This can’t be happening. He’s so close, he can hear you whispering his name. He’s halfway to you and this bastard has taken him down, it doesn’t seem real. 

He realizes it then. He’s halfway to you. He’s halfway through the warding, dead in the center of the web. He’s exactly where the Djinn wants him, and he’s certain of it when he sees Eket’s feet approaching. He can’t even raise his head to look up, there’s too much weight pushing him down. 

“You made this easy,” Eket grabs Gabriel by a handful of hair, yanking him up hard. He doesn’t pull him to standing, just up enough that Gabriel can sit back on his heels under the crushing weight. 

“What can I say,” Gabriel sneers, “I’m always out to lend a helping hand.” 

Black flashes in those unsettling eyes before it’s blinked away. “Now,” Eket turns, strolling back to where you’re hanging on the wall, “I’m going to make you watch while I kill her.” 

Gabriel panics. He has no course of action here. He can’t move, every time he emanates a speck of power it’s eaten up by the warding, making it’s hold even stronger. He can’t sit in the middle of this web and watch you die. He cannot do it. 

“No,” Gabriel says softly, “don’t bother with her. She can’t do anything for you. Just take me.” He closes his eyes, feels the pull of the web even stronger, and falls to his side. His wings are immediately bound by dark tendrils. 

Somehow his words, his offer to sacrifice himself, only made his situation worse. So much for doing the right thing and being rewarded. He knew that if the Djinn took him first the thing would die trying to consume him. Gabriel would die too, but at least you’d be safe. 

Eket steps up to you, a finger trailing along your jaw. “So sweet, so selfless this angel is for you, human. It’s disgusting.” 

Something in Gabriel shifts. Something, somewhere deep within him, something old and almost forgotten rears its head. It consumes him, this thing, and he lets it. He doesn’t want to be himself anymore after all, not if he can’t have you. 

Gabriel lets the angel go, let’s his grace slip away like he did centuries ago, eons ago. Gabriel becomes small, tucked away in darkened hiding. He will not watch you die, he can’t. He lets the other one come to the surface. 

Eket must sense a change behind him, because he breaks his contact with you and turns, very slowly. 

Gold eyes blink at the building around him, up at the shattered glass in the ceiling with rain pouring through. He hasn’t been awake in so long, but he’s been aware, somewhat, and he knows what’s going on. 

He rolls to his stomach, pushing up on his hands and then standing. He rolls his head back, bones popping in his neck and shoulders. It feels good to be back. 

Eket starts to move closer, and then freezes when he sees him stand. “What’s happening?” He asks. He gets no response. “Answer me, angel,” he dares to demand. 

“I’m no angel.” He looks down at his hands, threading his fingers together and then pushing them away, cracking his knuckles. 

“I don’t understand,” the irritation in Eket’s tone can’t be hidden. He knows his plan is falling apart around him. He has the intelligence to be nervous, but doesn’t have the wits to run. Not yet. 

“Don’t you? You spoke of me earlier. You called me by name. Did you think I wouldn’t make an appearance?” 

Fear flashes across Eket’s face, tattoos pulsing purple to black. “Loki?” He asks. 

“Tsk, tsk. What happened to respect? My name used to be uttered in whispers, reverently, for fear of drawing my attention.” Loki turns, fully taking in the day and age he’s emerged to. He adjusts the sleeves on his jacket, noting the different feel of the clothing on his body. 

“But, how?” Eket asks, daring to step closer. “You’re the angel, the angel is you. What does it matter what name you use? The warding should still work…” 

He studies the God of Mischief with open curiosity. Loki has killed for less than this. Still, it’s been so long since he’s been out and about, he hates to cut his stay short with one quick culling. 

“Yes and no,” Loki says, starting to stroll back and forth over the wards, unfazed. “I am Loki, and I inhabit this vessel. Gabriel is an archangel, and he inhabits it as well. But we’re not one or the other, we’re both. We’ve shared the same space so long that we’re intermingled, but still our own. And when he saw _her_ ,” he inclines his head towards you, “threatened, well, he called on me. I’m the selfish one, after all.” 

Eket shakes his head. “But the warding should still work if the angel is in there. This doesn’t make sense.”

“You’re rather dim for a Djinn.” Loki smiles. “Dim Djinn, dim Djinn,” he dances with the singsong lilt of the words, “that fits you. I think I’ll call you Dim. No,” he smacks his hands together in delight, “DD! That’s it, I’ll call you DD! It’s perfect!”

Black flashes over Eket’s eyes. “My name is _Eket_ , and you’ll address me as such.” 

Loki goes still at the demand, smile slipping away. “Will I? And what will you do if I don’t, DD?”

Rage contorts the already ugly face into something horrific, and when the mouth opens again to speak Loki can see that the tongue is forked. Definitely some snake business happening there. 

“YOU WILL CALL M--” Eket closes his eyes, cutting himself off short, trying to calm down. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to kill you. Go on, use your power, let’s see my wards drive you to your knees again. 

Loki raises his eyebrows in curiosity. “ _Your_ wards? You mean you did this all yourself?”

Eket has the stupidity to look proud for a second, before Loki snaps his fingers and raises the ward off the floor like a giant floating spider web. “Not possible,” Eket whispers. 

“You keep saying that,” Loki says curiously, “but it seems these things _are_ possible.” Loki spins the webbing, raising it higher, like an enormous weblike pizza dough over their heads. 

“How are you doing that?” Eket looks up in amazement. 

“Would you like to learn?” Loki watches his work, spinning and reeling, twisting it this way and that. “Here, I’ll show you,” he flicks his hand, sending the disgusting web cascading over Eket’s head. 

Eket collapses to the floor, gasping and screaming. “No! Help me! Please no!” 

Loki looks at you, tied up on the wall. He should get you down, but he can’t be bothered yet. He’s not done playing. 

He sighs heavily and rolls his eyes, snapping his fingers and sending the web away. 

Eket lays face down on the floor, breathing like he just ran a marathon. “You’re kinda dramatic,” Loki snaps, raising the Djinn in the air, “you should really do something about that. It’s annoying.” 

He flails, arms and legs waving like he’s trying to get his balance. He can’t balance when he’s floating, those two things don’t work together. Loki laughs. 

“Please, I’m begging you, just let me go. Take her, I’m so sorry. You’ll never hear from me again, I swear.” 

Loki cocks his head, confused. “Her?” He points to you. “I don’t want her.”

“What?” Eket seems to be gaining some bearings, so Loki flips him on his head. 

“DD, think about this. I want you to really think, okay? What was your warding pulling in?” 

Arms seem to swim in the air, making Eket look like even more of a fool. “Grace!” He yells, wanting this to be over so he can get down. 

Loki rolls his eyes. “Obviously. But what triggered the pull in your bonds. What activated the warding to trap his grace?” 

“Love,” Eket says after a second. 

Loki’s lip turns up almost in disgust. “I don’t know if I’d go that far, but yeah, something like that.” 

“Fine, caring, feelings, not love, whatever you want to call it. Please put me down.” 

“But, we’re not done with class. I can’t put you down before you’ve _learned_ something. This is important.” Loki grabs an old wooden chair off the floor, righting it and sitting down. “Where were we? Oh yes, so the angel cares about her. But I don’t. Do you see where I’m going with this?” 

“You don’t care about her at all?” Eket finally stops fighting, letting his arms hang down toward the floor. 

Loki flips him, laying horizontal to the floor on his stomach. 

“Please, do you know anything about me? I don’t care about anyone but myself. I’m completely selfish. It’s kinda my thing.” Loki studies his nails, not really interested in the conversation. 

Understanding dawns on Ekets face as he seems to realize the predicament he’s in. “Please don’t kill me,” he whispers. 

Loki looks at Eket like he’s the biggest idiot in the world. “Why in Odin’s name would I keep you alive? What purpose could you possibly have?” 

Eket blubbers for a moment, mouth opening and closing. “I, I could serve you.”

“Serve me?” Loki stands, walking up to stand directly under where Eket is suspended, looking up into his face. 

“Yes, sir. Loki, my master,” Eket temples his hands in front of his face, closing his eyes as he inclines his head. “I could be a Trickster. Gabriel said my ancestors were Tricksters, I could learn. I bet it’s in my DNA.” 

A boiling rage builds in Loki, seething to the surface. “You think _you_ could be a Trickster?” 

Ekets mouth opens, “I, well, I--”

Loki reaches up, grabbing the vile being above him by the throat. He throws him back into the wall, cement block cracking around the outline of the body. Loki is ten feet from Eket, but when he holds his hand up and closes his fist, a grip tightens on the other man's trachea. 

Eket clutches at his throat, trying to dislodge a hand that’s not there. 

“You dare speak the word Trickster. You’re a disgrace. That word should never pass that disgusting forked tongue of yours, do you hear me?” 

Eket is turning purple, black eyes and black tattoos blinking back at Loki. 

“That word used to be feared, revered, humans didn’t dare to speak it. Now? We’re forgotten, lost to time. But I’ll tell you, _Eket_ , you pathetic excuse for a Djinn, you’re a bigger fool than I thought if you believe I’d let you live to call yourself a Trickster.” 

Loki tries to keep the anger in check. He hadn’t expected to get this excited so quickly. It’s been so long since he went into hiding though. He’s got to let some of this out. 

He throws his head back and screams at the ceiling, the rage emanating like a mangled mix of a wolf cry and the shriek of a raven. It’s deafening, and what’s left of the glass in the sky lights is blown out. Parts of the ceiling are blown out as well, and rain pours down on them in sheets now. 

He looks back at Eket, his actual hand grabbing him by the throat, and yanks him off the wall. He forces him to his knees, looking down at him with contempt, trying to figure out what game to play next. 

“Loki, please,” Eket begs. 

The sound of his name sends the rage into another realm, and before he can think Loki reaches down. He snaps the lower jaw off the Djinn’s face, relishing the cry of horror that’s cut short. He snatches the forked tongue and yanks it out of the gaping throat, flinging it up through the ceiling and into the night sky. 

Somehow Eket is still alive. Probably because of the demons he consumed, although in his rage Loki can’t reason this out. He just knows that this disgusting creature won’t die. 

He punches his hand between the ribs, grabbing the heart and wrenching it out. He gives a satisfied smirk when the black leaves the eyes and the light leaves the tattoos. He tosses the body aside, taking a bite of the heart in his hand. 

He always did love feasting on the hearts of his enemies. A deep, cleansing breath helps to settle the rage, and he drops the heart by his feet. 

“Gabe?” You voice is weak and soft, barely loud enough to hear. 

Loki’s eyes flash to you, narrowing when he notices you’re out of the Djinn dream. Killing Eket must have broken it. 

He walks slowly toward you, like a cat stalking it’s prey. “No, doll, I’m afraid Gabriel isn’t home right now.” He thinks about the flashes he’s gotten of you, tiny seconds of memories seen through the filter of the angel’s eyes. You laughing, smiling, eyes closing as you kiss him, your body writhing under his in pleasure. 

You might be fun to play with for awhile, a shiny new toy for him to break. 

He cocks his head at the buzzing in his brain. He shouldn’t have thought that. He should have hidden it. 

“No,” he whispers to the room. 

“Gabe, baby?” Your voice draws his attention back. 

He focuses on you, thinking only about getting you down. Power ebs inside him, warm and golden. He knows that power like his own. He doesn’t want to go back yet. Not now. He wants some time to himself. He’ll leave you here, perfectly safe, if he can just have some _time_. 

Gold blinds his vision and he stumbles. “No, please, just a day. I’ll be good, I promise.” He can’t help but notice that he sounds like Eket pleading for his life. 

The gold clears his eyes for a second and he sees you looking at him. You’re blinking, trying to see, and he smiles at you. 

“I’ll be back soon and we’ll have some play time, okay?” He knows those words won’t go unpunished, but if he’s going back into hiding he might as well go out with a bang. 

Pain sears him and wings explode from his back. He feels the vessel ripped open from the force of it, and then feels the shoulders close around the base of the wings. He imagines that’s what it felt like when he ripped Eket’s tongue out, only he just felt it in double. 

Gold sings over his skin, making him glow. Light blinds his eyes, but he sees you one last time before grace takes him over and tamps him down. “Until we meet again, doll,” he manages, and then he’s gone. 

Gabriel heaves, the effort of fighting Loki back more than what he ever remembers. He rests for a second, down on his hands and knees, trying to recover. 

“Gabriel?” You voice is shaky, uncertain, and when he looks up at you he sees fear in your eyes. Fear of him. 

He staggers to his feet, stumbling the distance between you. “It’s me, sugar. I’m here.” 

He reaches up, releasing your hands, and catches you when you sag into his arms. 

“What happened? Why are you covered in blood? Who was that talking to me before?”

He sinks to the floor, pulling you tightly into his arms. “Don’t worry about it, everything’s okay now. I just had to have a get together with an old friend.” 

Somewhere, deep inside him, Gabriel hears an old familiar laugh. He shivers.


End file.
